Connector with rotatably mounted counctor securing means



Feb. 2, 1954 1. F. MATTHYSSE CONNECTOR WITH ROTATABLY MOUNTED CONDUCTOR SECURING MEANS Filed June 16. 1949 w w W mm 8 SQNR 3 3% Q oiw 8mm a N b W/ War/z a -K I @Wl/l/l/l/I/l/ ww w ll. W[\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\LW/ I ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 2, 1954 CONNECTOR WITH ROTATABLY MOUNTED CONDUCTOR SECURING MEANS Irving Frederick Matthysse, Bronx, N. Y., assignor to Burndy Engineering Company, Inc., a corporation of New York Application June 16, 1949, Serial No. 99,485

4 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in connectors and more particularly to a current limiter than can be rotatably secured to branch conductors.

In the motion picture industry it has been the practice to provide a portable spider distribution box connected to the main panel by a feeder cable for use as a terminal for connecting a plu rality of branch illumination circuits. In this system whenever a fault occurred in one of the branch circuits, the circuit breaker at the panel would respond to tie-energize the entire system causing a complete stoppage of work on the set until the fault was located and corrected. This delay was costly, as it involved the time of a large group of people. Frequent changes on the set necessitated constant relocation of the branch circuits which caused them to become twisted and ensnarled. When it was necessary to replace one of the branch circuits, the line had to be disconnected. at the spider box which was not provided with a quick disconnect means.

Additionally, in distribution systems, particularly in underground secondary systemscurrent faults have burned through the cable and caused permanent. damage by destroying many feet of insulation and in some instances, volatilizing the lead from the cable sheathing, assisting in the maintenance of the are from the short circuit condition. that have been used to correct this condition have been found to be dangerous to personnel and equipment when the fusible element was- These types of limiters were alsodisconnected difiicult to replace especially in restricted positions and did not provide for rotary movementof the limiter-conductor assembly within the connector body.

It is therefore a primary object of myinven-- tion to provide a current limiter having a replaceable element which functions as a fuse and as a means forv disconnecting the circuit.

A further object of my invention is to provide a current limiter having an internal assembly, to which the conductors are attached that will permit the conductors to rotate independently. of each other, preventing the twisting of the conductors.

A still further object of my invention isto provide a current limiter body with lockedoverlapping sleeve portions, having a simple unlocking means for quickly separating the portions.

Additional objects of my invention are to provide a current limiter that can be electrically separated when the sleeve portions are in an The current limiters overlapped position to confine within the ends of the conductors and the limiter any arcing arising from the electrical separation of the parts; to provide within the sleeve portions rotatable members to support the conductors and to resiliently engage the fuse assembly; to provide quickly releasable means to lock the supporting members within the sleeve portions; to provide the fuse assembly with an are proof housing within the connector body to support a fusible element; to provide a fuse assembly that is contained within one of the sleeve members and quickly releasable means to lock the fuse assembly therein; and to provide a limiter body of insulating material. p

l" accomplish these and other objects and obtain my new results as will be apparent from the device described in the following specification, particularly pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of the current limiter.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken" along line 2--2 of Figure 1. V I Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 3'-3 of Figure 2.

Fig. 4' is a side view of one of the removable retaining rings.

Referring to the drawing, Ill represents the hollow limiter housing of insulating material comprising a female sleeve H adapted to telescopically receive the male sleeve I2, the overlapping portion length to confine the are caused by the separation of the internal contacts, preventingdamage' to nearby personnel and equipment; In the remainder of the description, the even numberedvided in each-of the overlapping portions o f-the sleeves to receive the head of the lockingbutton ll secured to one end of the flat circular split spring I8 which is retained in the male sleeve by spring pressure as shown in Fig. 3. The lock ing button is located in the female sleeve adjacent the end ofthe recessed portion of the male sleeve, as far removed as possible from the pointer separation of the sleeves. n the telescopic sleeves, the locking button is de of each sleeve being of sufiicient To release- 3 pressed to a point where it extends within the aperture 16 of the male sleeve and a simple longitudinal pull on the sleeves will separate the sleeves for access to the inner assembly of the limiter.

Positioned within each telescopic sleeve is a disconnect socket member i9 and 20 which may be identical in structure, each having a drilled recess 2! and 22 respectively, at the outer end thereof to receive the bared end of the conductor 23 and 24 which are soldered or otherwise attached therein, with the insulation of the cen ductor extending within the hollow sleeves. At the other end of each socket member 19 and 20, a recess, 25 and 26 respectively, is provided, the ends of each socket member slotted, forming a set of four resiliently extending prongs 2'! and 28 respectively, to receive the ends of the fusible element assembly 29. Split C springs 32} and 30a respectively are mounted around the split prongs 2i and 23 to provide additional resiliency.

The fusible element assembly 29 comprises a split housing 3|, of an arc-proof asbestos compound, slidably received within the male sleeve l2, which has spaced annular flanges 32 and 3211 at each end to fixedly receive the shoulders 33 and 34 of the plugs 35 and 36. The plug ends 35a and 36a are received by their respective contact sockets 25 and 26 to be yieldably engaged therein for good electrical contact, and further provides a swivel connection to permit the conductors to rotate independently of the fusible element. One end of the fusible element 31 is mounted in each plug and extends across the arcing chamber 38 formed by the flanges 32a and the wall of the housing.

It should be noted that the plug end 35a extends from within the male sleeve short of the end thereof similar to the ends of prongs 2! of socket 255 which extend from within the female short of the end thereof, so that the plug end and prongs will always be in a protected position within their respective sleeve member in the event the connector is separated when energized. When the limiter sleeves are moved apart, electrical contact between the plug and socket will be broken while the limiter sleeves are still in an overlapping relation, thus confining within the limiter any are that may be formed during the disconnecting movement.

The disconnect socket members [9 and 20 are freely mounted within their respective sleeves and are provided with annular supporting flanges 39, 4| and 40, 42 respectively. The socket I9 mounted within the female sleeve II is retained in position at one end by a fixed retaining ring 43, and at the other end by a removable retaining ring 45, each ring seated within an inner annular recess in the sleeve and abut the flanges 39 and 4| respectively to restrain longitudinal motion, but to permit rotation of the socket within the sleeve. Disconnect socket 20 and fusible element assembly 29 are freely mounted within the male sleeve l2 and are restrained from longitudinal motion by a fixed retainer ring 44 and a removable retaining ring 46. The removable retaining rings 45 and 46 are of flat spring stock circular in configura tion, as shown in Figure 4, and have inturned, ends to facilitate removal by use of a suitable tool. Thus the disconnect sockets and the fusible element assembly are freely mounted in the limiter sleeves and while prevented from longitudinal movement by the retaining rings, can rotate within the sleeves as a unit, so that in the event the sleeves are wedged in a restricted position or of an ensnarled line, the conductors can rotate independently of the sleeves to prevent a twist in the conductor.

When a fault current has occurred to blow the limiter, the fusible element assembly is replaced in the following manner. The locking button is depressed sufficiently to permit separation of the sleeves. Upon the female sleeve H being longitudinally displaced, the end plug 35 is withdrawn from the contact socket 25, the fusible element assembly being retained within the male sleeve 12 by removable retaining ring 46. To remove the blown fusible element assembly, the removable retaining ring 46 is compressed by drawing the ends together and a new fusible element assembly installed. The reverse procedure is followed to re-assemble the unit.

When it is desired to replace a conductor leading to one side of the limiter, the limiter is separated by depressing the locking button and the new conductor and component limiter sleeve may be assembled to the remaining limiter to complete the connection.

By fixedly housing the rotatable fuse assembly within one sleeve member of the limiter, an end portion of the fuse assembly can function as a disconnect means between the component parts of the limiter, and permit replacement of the fuse element when blown. In providing limiter sleeves having a long overlapping portion, the internal assembly of the connector can be electrically disconnected when the sleeves are still in an overlapping engagement, thereby preventing exposure of any are that may be formed by the electrical separation. I further prevent the possibility of danger caused by the separation by providing a simple and quickly unlockable means between the limiter sleeves positioned remotely from the point of separating of the limiter. By providing socket members rotatably mounted in each of the limiter sleeves which may be secured at one end to the conductors and resiliently receiving the ends of the fuse assembly, I can obtain a relative rotational movement between the conductors, the

v limiter body and the fuse assembly thereby preventing the conductors from twisting and ensnarling the cables.

I have thus described my invention, but I desire it understood that it is not confined to the particular forms or uses shown and described,

,. the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, and, therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and by means of which, objects of my invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to attain these object and accomplish these results.

I claim: 1. A connecting device for electrical connectors having a hollow body comprising a pair of connecting sleeves; means for detachably securing the sleeves together; a fuse element having integral plugs on each side thereof and freely mounted and entirely enclosed within one of the sleeves; a conductor attaching member freely mounted in each sleeve each having a recess on one end thereof to receive the respective plugs; said fuse element slidably mounted along the longitudinal axis of its sleeve; removable resilient retaining rings mounted to the inner surface of the sleeves to retain said fusible element and said conductor attaching members within their respective sleeves whereby each may be longitudinally removed from their sleeves.

2. A connecting device for electrical conductors comprising a pair of sleeves; means for detachably securing the sleeves together; conductor engaging means provided in each of said sleeves; means for longitudinally locking each conductor engaging means within its sleeve, one of said conductor engaging means terminating in a socket, the other conductor engaging means in a plug forming complementary connecting means; said plug and socket having means whereby to be rotatably mounted with respect to each other, and one of said connecting means and conductor engaging means being coupled for rotation with respect to its sleeve while longitudinally locked in position within the sleeve.

3. The connecting device of claim 2, containing a fuse element positioned between the said rotatable connecting means and its conductor engaging means.

4. The connecting device of claim 3 wherein said connecting means is integral with said fusible element.

IRVING FREDERICK MATTHYSSE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 803,245 Parnell Oct. 31, 1905 857,735 Hatzel et al. June 25, 1907 1,769,967 Saurman et a1 July 8, 1930 1,969,301 Edwards Aug. 7, 1934 1,974,291 Reynolds Sept. 18, 1934 2,015,953 McDowell Oct. 1, 1935 2,177,509 Abbott Oct. 24, 1939 2,220,810 Bright Nov. 5, 1940 2,289,207 Papp July 7, 1942 2,346,831 Drury Apr. 18, 1944 2,484,147 Bartel Oct. 11, 1949 

